1. What theories about motivation underlie the switch from salary to commission pay? Frances Patterson, Kimbel’s CEO, looked at the latest ”Sales by Manager”

figures on her daily Web-based sales report. What did these up-to-the-minute numbers tell her about the results of Kimbel’s trial of straight commission pay for its salespeople?

A regional chain of upscale department stores based in St. Louis.

Kimbel’s faces the challenge shared by most department stores these days:

how to stop losing share of overall retail sales to discount store chains. A key component of the strategy the company formulated to counter this long-term trend is the revival of great customer service on the floor, once a hallmark of upscale stores. Frances knows Kimbel’s has its work cut out for it. When she dropped in on several stores incognito a few years ago, she was dismayed to discover that finding a salesperson actively engaged with a customer was rare. In fact, finding a salesperson when a customer wanted to pay for an item was often difficult.

About a year and a half ago, the CEO read about a quiet revolution sweeping department store retailing. At stores such as Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf Goodman, managers put all salespeople on straight commission.

Frances decided to give the system a yearlong try in two area stores